Sean Connery

If you feel stiff in a suit…You’ve probably never had one made just for you.

Take a cue from Sean Connery (above)—or rather, his director in 1962 Bond film Dr. No, Terence Young. To convince James Bond creator Ian Fleming that Connery, a former boxer, was right for the role of a debonair member of Her Majesty’s secret service, Young contacted Fleming’s own Savile Row tailor (the late Anthony Sinclair, above right). The story goes that Connery wore the suits around the clock—even slept in them—until he felt utterly natural wearing them. The rest is history.

We’re not going to recommend taking a nap in your notch-lapel. But we will say that investing in a Made-to-Measure Suit is the way to meld boardroom body-armor with a barely perceptible second-skin. In other words: You’ll look, and feel, like a million bucks. Bonus: During store events throughout the month of March, you can score a Made-to-Measure suit for the same price as one off the rack. Yes, really.

Why go Made-to-Measure? First, the pleasure of picking every detail. Choose from dozens of fabric swatches, linings, buttons. Most of our stores offer this service from several renowned brands like Joseph Abboud, Canali, Hart Schaffner Marx, Hickey Freeman—so you’ll have tons to choose from.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly: the fit. We caught up with Brooke Foxworthy, a rep for Joseph Abboud, who noted some of the finer points Abboud can accomplish with their custom models: “You can taper the leg, lower the rise, add functional buttons on the sleeves, shirt grippers in the pants, get higher armholes, a shorter point-to-point in the shoulders.” For a modest price increase, Abboud (whose factory is right here in the USA, in New Bedford, Mass.) even offers luxury fabrics from Italian mills like Loro Piana, Zegna, and Barbera.

Check our Store Locations page to find Made-to-Measure events near you, and get a great deal on a custom suit. (Who knows, you might be the next 007—or at least put the fear into saggy-suited villains around your office.)

With New Year’s Eve parties approaching, we took a minute to locate some inspiration for perhaps the most quintessentially masculine garment known to man: a Tuxedo. For a garment whose smashing success or massive failure hinges almost entirely on a razor-sharp fit, customized precisely to your body, sack-like rentals are not a realistic option—even if you only need your tux once a year, a modest investment is worth looking like a million bucks once in a while.

3. Midnight Blue. Daniel Craig’s Bond is rougher around the edges than his predecessors—and his choices in evening wear are just as unapologetic. Opting for inky blue instead of the classic black is a subtle tweak on the color spectrum, but speaks volumes. Amp it up further with a creative shirt, or keep it classically subversive as Craig does above.

Whichever style you choose, get thee to a skilled Nordstrom Tailor for a fully personalized fit. Here’s a graphic of Mr. Jake Gyllenhaal, a red-carpet pro, with a comprehensive play-by-play on how a classic tux ought to fit, courtesy of the NY Times. Click to enlarge: